Patent Document 1 identified below shows an example of the switch having the construction noted above. According to Patent Document 1, the switch comprises a control rod (described as a control axis in the document) provided in a casing including a first case, a second case and a third case combined together, and a drive member fitted on the control rod at a lower edge thereof to be rotatable in unison with the control rod and slidable axially of the control rod. The drive member includes a disk-shaped oscillating contact plate made of a conductor and rotatable in unison therewith, and a rotary member rotatable in unison with the drive member.
The first case provided in an upper portion of the casing has fixed contacts arranged adjacent a lower side of a base member thereof in positions surrounding the control rod crosswise. The oscillating contact plate is in contact with a compression spring formed of a conductor such as a metal wire material or the like. The compression spring has a lower end in contact with a common fixed contact (described later). As the control rod is tilted (oscillated), the fixed contact is brought into contact with the oscillating contact plate to establish a conductive state thereby to electrically detect the tilting direction (corresponding to the tilt detecting section of the present invention).
The second case provided in an intermediate portion of the casing has a code pattern formed of a conductor such as a metal and provided on an inner surface thereof. A sliding element is provided on a lower surface of the rotary member for contacting the code pattern. As the control rod is rotated, an angle of rotation is detected from a contact between the code pattern and the sliding element as an encoded electrical signal (corresponding to the rotation detecting section of the present invention).
The third case provided in a bottom portion of the casing has a central fixed contact arranged in the center of an inner surface of a bottom wall portion thereof. The common fixed contact is arranged outwardly of the central fixed contact, while a movable contact having a dome-shaped bulging portion contacting the common fixed contact at peripheries thereof and spaced from the central fixed contact. Further, a depressing member is arranged above the bulging portion of the fixed contact so that an upper end thereof may contact the lower end of the control rod. When the control rod is depressed, the bulging portion of the movable contact is elastically deformed to the extent of contacting the central contact by an operational force from the control rod to establish a conductive state between the common fixed contact and central fixed contact, thereby electrically detecting the depressing operation (corresponding to the depression detecting section of the present invention). Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Application Publication No. 2005-302642